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Cleopatra's Sanctum Sanctorum

1/27/2014

Since the early 1990s, the topographical surveys have allowed the research team led by French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio to conquer the harbor of Alexandria. The field of vision is clearer.

"This location is a unique site in the world," said Goddio who has spent two decades trying to find the lost city.

This photo is from the exploration that took a team of divers to the palace and temple complex of Isis. This is a central and essential part of the palace compound. The goddess Isis was special to Cleopatra. Isis was the goddess of magic and power.

Cleopatra is reputed to have been schooled in the mysteries of Isis and Osiris, and the priests of these gods were very powerful. They were thought to have means of magic, telepathy and clairvoyance, which legend says were taught to the young princess from her youth.

It is in this temple, in a small room known as "The Sphere of Destiny," that Cleopatra was supposed to have kept a large quartz block. It had a smooth polished surface about the size of two hands on one of the upper faces of the stone.

It was by scrying into that dark mirror that Cleopatra was supposed to be able to see the past and future, communicate with her generals and even it was said, she was to first see the face of Mark Antony.

This stone of power was called the "Eye of Cleopatra," or "Cleopatra's Eye" and was rumored to be as old as Egypt itself. After the death of Cleopatra and Antony, the stone disappeared never to be seen again. Could it still be buried somewhere here beneath the bay?

It was in the Temple of Isis where Cleopatra's love affair with the Roman general Antony took place--his rooms were there. The pair allegedly committed suicide following the defeat by his former ally Octavian. Octavian then appeared with the name of the Roman Emperor Augustus.

Teams of divers find a central place in the life of Cleopatra and Antony, the dramatic pair whose love was so famous, including the Timonium where Antony withdrew from the outside world after the defeat of Octavian by Brutus in the Civil War. The building has not been completed because Antony committed suicide.

They also found a large head-shaped stone monument, which is strongly suspected as that of Caesarion, son of Cleopatra and her lover before Antony, Julius Caesar. The team also found two sphinxes that one of them is probably the picture of Cleopatra 's father , Ptolemy XII .

Discovery in the waters of Alexandria will be on display at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia , United States ( U.S. ) from June 5 to January 2, 2010 in the exhibition titled "Cleopatra : The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt ". Exhibition will then continue to other cities in North America.

This is a photo of the area of Alexandria where Cleopatra's Palace lies.

This is a map of the Palace of Cleopatra excavations. Mark Anthony's rooms are marked. The Temple of Isis, where Cleopatra's sanctum and Mark Antony's rooms were located was a sumptuous and lavish compound that was more of a palace of its own than a cultic shrine.

Much has been made of the last days of Cleopatra's rule, but in fact, the complex is revealing of her whole reign and her industrious and brilliant architectural, military and artistic knowledge. Her brain and wit were more important to her success than her beauty. She seemed to have knowledge and resources way beyond that of those she dealt with, and the scribes of the day attributed this to her deep Egyptian magic.

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The Search for Cleopatra by Zawi Hawas

1/26/2014

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Zawi Hawas

When I first set out to become an archaeologist, the mystery of Cleopatra already mesmerized me. At age 16, I enrolled as a student with the Faculty of Arts in the Archaeology Department of the University of Alexandria. I asked Dr. Fawzi El Fakhary, one of my professors, a question hovering in my mind for quite some time: Where was the tomb of Cleopatra?

My professor believed her to be buried near her palace with Mark Antony, in a tomb that had long been lost beneath the depths of the ocean. My professor’s answer, however, was only an educated guess.

He did not know where Cleopatra was buried, and this uncertainty only fueled the mounting flame of my curiosity. I used to visit the location that people thought was her palace and conjure her in my mind, marveling at how little we knew about Egypt’s last queen and how much remained to be discovered.

After graduating from the university, my interest in Cleopatra waned until, in 2004, Kathleen Martinez, a Dominican scholar of Greek and Roman history, explained her theory about Cleopatra. She described her as a philosopher and linguist, and a shrewd politician—a woman to be reckoned with. Kathleen was certain that Cleopatra and Mark Antony were buried together inside the temple of Taposiris Magna, a site located 45 kilometers [28 miles] west of Alexandria, far from the submerged tomb my professor had described. According to Kathleen, this temple represented the dwelling of the god Osiris, which possessed a profound meaning for Cleopatra, who frequently portrayed herself as the human representation of the goddess Isis, wife of Osiris. Mark Antony, Cleopatra’s lover leading up to her death, was often seen as the human manifestation of Osiris. Thus the temple of Taposiris may have held a deeply sentimental importance for this queen, who lost Antony just before Egypt fell to the Romans.

Kathleen had searched for Cleopatra’s tomb in other temples by carefully analyzing a wealth of architectural, archaeological, and iconographical evidence as well as the symbolism, chronology, and mythology surrounding these temples. The only possible burial place that embodied all the symbolism of divinity and religious ritual, while simultaneously conveying Cleopatra’s personal legacy, was Taposiris Magna.

Many have searched for the tomb of Alexander the Great, but no one had searched for that missing piece of ancient Egypt’s story—the tomb of Cleopatra, who took her own life rather than surrender her homeland to the Romans. This bright young scholar rekindled my old passion for the story of Cleopatra. It occurred to me that we had before us an opportunity to recover the last page in that the book of ancient Egyptian civilization, an opportunity we could not pass by. And so Kathleen and myself, together with an Egyptian archaeological team, began the search for Cleopatra’s tomb in hopes of removing some of the great mystery that hangs thick around this famous queen.

from: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/events/cleopatra/zahi-hawass/

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Goblecki Temple

1/26/2014

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There's more time between Gobekli Tepe and the Sumerian clay tablets [etched in 3300 B.C.] than from Sumer to today," says Gary Rollefson, an archaeologist at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, who is familiar with Schmidt's work. "Trying to pick out symbolism from prehistoric context is an exercise in futility."

Still, archaeologists have their theories—evidence, perhaps, of the irresistible human urge to explain the unexplainable. The surprising lack of evidence that people lived right there, researchers say, argues against its use as a settlement or even a place where, for instance, clan leaders gathered. Hodder is fascinated that Gobekli Tepe's pillar carvings are dominated not by edible prey like deer and cattle but by menacing creatures such as lions, spiders, snakes and scorpions. "It's a scary, fantastic world of nasty-looking beasts," he muses. While later cultures were more concerned with farming and fertility, he suggests, perhaps these hunters were trying to master their fears by building this complex, which is a good distance from where they lived.

Danielle Stordeur, an archaeologist at the National Center for Scientific Research in France, emphasizes the significance of the vulture carvings. Some cultures have long believed the high-flying carrion birds transported the flesh of the dead up to the heavens. Stordeur has found similar symbols at sites from the same era as Gobekli Tepe just 50 miles away in Syria. "You can really see it's the same culture," she says. "All the most important symbols are the same."

For his part, Schmidt is certain the secret is right beneath his feet. Over the years, his team has found fragments of human bone in the layers of dirt that filled the complex. Deep test pits have shown that the floors of the rings are made of hardened limestone. Schmidt is betting that beneath the floors he'll find the structures' true purpose: a final resting place for a society of hunters.

Perhaps, Schmidt says, the site was a burial ground or the center of a death cult, the dead laid out on the hillside among the stylized gods and spirits of the afterlife. If so, Gobekli Tepe's location was no accident. "From here the dead are looking out at the ideal view," Schmidt says as the sun casts long shadows over the half-buried pillars. "They're looking out over a hunter's dream."

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/?page=3

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Cleopatra's Sanctum Sanctorum

The Search for Cleopatra by Zawi Hawas

Goblecki Temple

Marcus Devol

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